Sports: Chiefs Stumble to Third Loss; Mizzou Faces First Elite Challenge; Missouri State Moves to the Big Time, etc.

Posted on October 7, 2025 by bpriddy

by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—It’s being called “a miracle touchdown” in Jacksonville,. Florida today. It’s considered a disaster by many Chiefs fans in Kansas Cityu—and elsewhere. Mistakes and a dozen penalties cost the Kansas City Chiefs their third loss in five games this year last night against the Jacksonsville Jaguara. The Jags, down by four, benefitted from an out-of-bounds kickoff by Kansas City with less than two minutes left that gave them a short field. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence turned a potentially fatal stumble after the snap into a touchdown with 23 seconds left to put the Jaguars up 31-28. The Chiefs got a solid return on the kickoff but were flagged for another penalty—holding in this case—that challenged their ability to get the ball close enough for a field goal attempt to tie.

The game featured two goal line plays, one by each team, that kept the score from being higher. Lawrence’s attempt to dive over his line for a first-half touchdown was short circuited when the ball was knocked form his hands and recovered by the Chiefs. Later, as the Chiefs were on the verge of a touchdown, when Jacksonville’s Devin Lloyd picked off a potential Patrick Mahomes touchdown pass and took it 99 yards the other way for a score.

The win is Jacksonville’s first over Kansas City since 2009. The loss equals Kansas City’s total for all of last year, including the Super Bowl.

Jacksonville is now 4-1. The Chiefs are 2-3.

The last time Kansas City started 2-3, the Chiefs finished 14-6 with an overtime loss to the Bengals in the AFC championship game.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers head into their most important game of the year next weekend fully rested after a weekend off, their upcoming opponent being Alabama, which ended Vanderbilt’s winning streak last weekend and moved to 8^th in both major polls. Missouri will go into the game 14^th.

Look for a battle of poised veteran quarterbacks with Alabama led by Ty Simpson, whose composure in the last couple of minutes in the first half of their games has gained attention. He took the Crimson Tide on an 87-yard march in the last two minutes of the first half to get a halftime tie against the Commodores. It was the fourth time he has led the team to a TD in the last minute of the first half.

One of the things Alabama has to do is limit Ahmad Hardy, the nation’s rushing leader with 730 yards. He also leads the nation with 46 missed tackles, fifteen more than Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss. His nine touchdowns rank second in the country for running backs.

Missouri is number two in the SEC in scoring—45.2 points per game. On defense, the Tigers lead the nation in total offense—only 203.8 yards per game. They rank third in stopping the ground game (62.4 yards per game and they’re third in allowing only 141.4 yards passing.

Although they’re playing at home for the sixth straight time, they’re listed on the early line as underdogs by a little more than a field goal.

(MIZRECRUITS)—The Tigers recently picked up a couple four-star players recently by picking Arkansas’ pocket. Linebacker J.J. Busch, who had committed to Arkansas, has flipped to Missouri. Running back Terry Hodges, an Arkansas native, has signed to come north. They will join Hardy and Jamal Roberts, who are eligible to be back next year. (ZOU)

(MOSTATE)—Missouri State left the Football Championship Subdivision for the big-time Football Bowl Subdivision this year and is part of Conference USA .

The NCAA counts 136 schools in that subdivision. The latest rankings put Missouri State 115^th. The Bears are competitive within their conference although things get difficult if not ugly when they try someone far up the ladder—as they did last week against 26^th ranked USC.

Southern Cal rolled over the Bears 73-13, racking up 597 yards in total offense while Missouri State could get only 65 yards rushing and 159 yards passing. The Bears are now 2-3 with a win over Tennessee-Martin, an FCS school, 42-10 and another win over Marshall (ranked 121^st in the NCAA FBS rankings) 21-20. Other than USC, their losses have come 28-10 to SMU, ranked , 42^nd and 27-22 to Western Kentucky, ranked 67^th.

Ahead are 134^th ranked Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State (110), Liberty (117), UTEP (122), Kenesaw State (107) and Louisiana Tech (87).

(BASEBALL)—Wheeling and dealing and free agent courting officially begins when the World Series ends but new management in St. Louis and a disappointing mediocre season in Kansas City has all kinds of speculation and proposed trades being suggested that we’re not going to get into. When a deal is struck or a trade is made, we’ll talk about it.

Now the hot wheels stuff—

(NASCAR)—Joey Logano, who got into the final rounds of the NASCAR Cup Championship last year on a technicality and then won it despite being far back in the regular points system, is back in the final eight again despite being a calculated tenth in regular season points.

Logano got past Chastain as Chastain sped toward the finish line in reverse. The two had been tied or separated by only a couple of points as the race on the Charlotte Roval (the road course inside the oval) wound down. Denny Hamlin got in front of Chastain in the closing series of turns and when Chastain moved to reverse the order, the two collided on the last corner, spinning Chastain backwards. He got his car in reverse and backed across the finish line a matter of feet before Logano, who had been trailing, got there.

Chastain blamed himself for being in the situation because of bobbles during pit stops. Hamlin indicated he did not know Chastain’s circumstances and was racing for his own position when he incident happened.

So Logano is in and Chastain is out and the best he can finish in this year’s system will be ninth.

We’ll have to wait and see if this incident becomes part of NASCAR’s discussion of changing he way the playoffs are determined or if here will be playoffs in the future or whether the driver with the most points after thirty-six races is crowned champion.

THE WINNER of the race was Shane Van Gisbergen, who has swept all five of NACAR’s road races this year. He will not, however, advance to the eight-driver field racing for the title although he is tied with Denny Hamlin for most victories this year. Van Gisbergen was eliminated after the first three raises of the cut-down series.

Still standing as NASCAR heads to Las Vegas for the first of three races that will reduce the championship field to four for the final race of the year next month in Phoenix are Denny Hamlin—who leads all active drivers with 59 career Cup wins but no championships in his 21-year career—Ryan Blaney, the 2023 champion; Kyle Larson, who won in 2021; William Byron; Christoper Bell; Chase Elliott, the champion in 2020; Chase Briscoe; and Logano who won last year and in 2018 and 2022 before winning his third championship last year.

Among those who missed the cut are two-time champion Kyle Busch (2015, 2019) and Brad Keslowski (2012).

(INDYCAR)—2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, whose driving career ended with a crash in 2023 that left him with a severe concussion issue, is back in the cockpit—a simulated one.

Pagenaud is the official simulator driver for the new Cadillac Formula 1 team that takes to the track next year.

It’s important work as the team develops the elements necessary for a new race car to be competitive, including cockpit design and ergonomics, simulated aerodynamic influences—even braking systems, power steering, and tire settings. He says his role gives him “a feeling of being useful and bringing in my expertise, something that was missing somehow since my accident.”

Pagenaud was the third French driver to win the 500, the first since Rene Thomas in 1914. Another French driver, Jules Goux, won a legendary race in 1913 during which he and riding mechanic Emil Begin consumed four bottles of champagne (each bottle being about 4/5 of a quart) in the six-hour and 35 minute race. Goux’s set a still-standing record by finishing more than thirteen minutes ahead of the second-place driver.

Gaston Chevrolet won the race in 1920. Although he was born in France, he was an American citizen when he won the race.

Pagenaud’s winning margin was slightly more than two seconds ahead of Alexander Rossi.

(Photo credits: Pagenaud, Logano, Van Gisbergen—Bob Priddy; Cadillac F1—autoracing.com; Missouri State–NCAA)

Sports: And Suddenly, it’s Over for Baseball; Tigers and Chiefs Looking Good

Posted on September 30, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—It’s interesting what the Chiefs can do with a little speed in the lineup. The return of Xavier Worthy and his deep threats helped the Chiefs rack up their highest points total in two years in a 37-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs have evened their record at 2. It also is the first time since week twelve of last year that they have run up 30 points.

Worthy had five catches for 83 yards and he added 38 more on two carries in his first game since his shoulder injury at the start of the year. Patrick Mahomes threw for four touchdowns and became the young4est player ever to throw for 250 touchdowns.

The game was a milestone for Coach Andy Reid who has become the first NFL coach to coach more than 200 regular season games for two franchises. He was 130-93-1 in fourteen seasons in Philadelphia. He’s 145-55 with Kansas City. He also is the only coach to win 100 or more games with two franchises.

The Chiefs have a Monday night game next week with the Jacksonville Jaguars who have opened 3-1.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers took care of business against the University of Massachusetts in their homecoming game Saturday with a 42-6 win that puts them 5-0 with an off-week ahead to get ready for the Alabama Crimson Tide squad that upset Georgia last weekend.

The win Saturday has moved the Tigers up one slot in the coaches poll, to 18^th. The Tigers also moved up one place in the AP poll, to 19^th.

Recruiting—

Mizzou has picked up a couple of top-level defensive recruits, one of them a big takeaway from an SEC rival. Micah Nickerson had verbally committed to Mississippi State but less than a week after watching Missouri beat South Carolina, he decided to be a Tiger. He’s a four-star defensive end, 6-5, 215, considered the 43^rd defensive end in the nation for the class of 2026.

Adding to the class is Hutchinson Community College DE Demarcus Johnson, the top junior college player in the country. He’s a 6-7 edge rusher.

(MIZBB)—Hard to believe…but basketball season is upon us. The new team already is on the court. The Tigers held their first official team meeting on September 22 and the first official practice was the next day. “Fight plus Focus” was the theme for the first workouts.

Here’s an interesting video of the beginning of the pre-season:

Bing Videos (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—For those who struggle to stay alert for the playoffs unless the Royals or the Cardinals are involved, this is it. After 162 games in eight months, the long winter already is settling in and only hope for a warmer future will get us through the cold and gray months ahead.

Our teams were mediocre at best all year long, a disappointment in Kansas City, unsurprising in St. Louis

(CARDINALS)—The season ended with a whimper for the Cardinals who lost six of their last ten games to finish six games under .500. John Mozeliak is now history and Chaim Bloom will take a shot at rebuilding the team for 2025.

Two big names have indicated they might soften their no-trade stances. Nolan Arenado says he is willing to expand his list of teams for which he’d like to play. And Sonny Gray feels the same way.

Losing Arenado might not be too traumatic. His glove ass still good and he only struck out 49 times in 401 at-bats. But he hit only .237 with a dozen homers and only 52 RBIs.

Gray, however, was the biggest winner on the pitching staff at 14-8 despite his 4.28 ERA and 201 strikeouts. He tied for fourth in the National League in wins (the top NL pitcher had only 17), ranked sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (more than 10), led the league with 5.3 Ks for each walk, and was eighth in innings pitched (180.2)

But we might have seen he last of players such as fan favorite Lars Nootbar (.234 with as many hits as strikeouts—119 each—in 509 at-bats), Jordan Walker III (.215, with only 78 hits and 126 strikeouts), Victor Scott (.216, with 107 Ks in 396 at-bats), and Nolan Gorman, with 136 strikeouts in only 351 at-bats).

Bloom might be looking for more punch for a team with a .245 team BA and 1,321 strikeouts in 5433 at-bats. Only one NL team had a worse batting team batting average–.242. All of that being said, it should be noted the entire NL batting average this year was .247 and the batting champion, Trea Turner of the Phillies, set a new major league record for the lowest highest batting average for the season, .301. Eric Burlison and Brendan Donovan were sixth and eighth with averages of . 290 and .287. Luis Arraez of the Padres had the most hits—only 181. But was a big year in MLB for home runs with Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies beating Shohei Ohtani 56-55 to win that contest.

Gray finished six games over .500. Michael McGreevy showed great possibilities by going 8-4 in 17 games with a 4.42 ERA. The team was six games UNDER .500 although those two were ten ABOVE. Ryan Helsley had 21 saves before leaving. The rest of the bullpen staff combined had that many. Miles Mikolas surely is gone (8-11, 4.84, gave up 29 homers in 31 games). Andre Pallante (6-15, 5.31) and Matthew Liberatore (8-12, 4.21) didn’t live up to expectations. The Cardinals used 24 pitchers this year who had a combined 4.29 ERA and allowed 179 home runs in 162 games.

(ROYALS)—The Royals won six of their last ten to finish 82-80 but missed the wild card slot by five games. Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino became the first Royals teammates to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs each.

Six American Leagues batted above .300 with Aaron Judge’s .331 topping the list. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia was ninth at .286. Bobby Witt led the major leagues in hits with 186 and in doubles with 47. He was fourth in triples. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh set several records as he led the league in homers with 62, becoming the seventh player to hit 60 or more, breakking Mickey Mantle’s record for switch hitter homers, and breaking Salvador Perez’s record of 48 for catchers.

As a team, the Royals hit .247, three points above the league average. The Athletics led the league at .252.

Royals pitchers had a combined ERA of 3.73. Rookie Noah Cameron was impressive with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts. The only other Royals rookies to finish their rookie season are Paul Splittorff with a 2.68 in 1971 and Kevin Appier, who finished 1990 at 276.

The Royals look to 2026 with a strong core pitching staff with Cole Ragans looking impressive in his last appearances of the year after coming off the injured list. Seth Lugo is solid, Michael Wacha pitched better than his losing record shows, and then there’s Cameron.

The season didn’t turn out as well as KC fans had hoped, given the playoff appearance last year. But the Royals look to 2026 far less unsettled than the Cardinals do.

Going around—

(NASCAR)—A furious final two laps at the Kansas Speedway finished with Chase

Elliott finding the right holes to go from eighth to victory lane and into a guaranteed position in the final eight drivers eligible for the Cup.

Elliott wove his way through a gaggle of fiercely-competing Toyota drivers to put his Chevrolet in the lead by a victory margin of less than seven-hundredths of a second over Denny Hamlin who seconds before had been in a fierce fight for the lead with Bubba Wallace. Hamlin finished second with Christopher Bell third. Chase Briscoe, who started form the pole for the ninth time this year, was fourth and Wallace wound up fifth.

Hamlin drove the last segment of the race and held the lead until the last pit stops in which a problem with the jack slowed tire changing and put him sixth for the final run. He had worked his way to third and when Wallace and Bell were battling each other, Hamlin slipped past them into the lead. But as he and Wallace battled, Elliott slipped underneath them, the fifth lead change in the last two laps.

The series moves to the road course inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen, who fell out of the championship field last week, has eon the last four road course races,

(NASCAR FUTURE)—Here’s a name to watch: Connor Zillisch. He’s just 19 year old and won his ninth race of the year on Saturday at Kansas, still racing with a broken collarbone.

(INDYCAR)—It sometimes takes a while for the winner of any sport’s most important event to fully absorbe the importance of what they have done. The realization recently came to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 when he sat in a sculptor Willam Behrend’s studio in Asheville, North Carolina as his face emerged from clay.

Alex Palou, 2025 Indianapolis 500 race winner, during the formal sitting with William Behrends for creating the silver image on the Borg-Warner Trophy at William Behrends Studio on Sept. 18, 2025, in Tryon, N.C.

The clay bust will be used to cast in sterling silver a tiny image of Palou’s face that will be placed on the Borg-Warner trophy that is permanently held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His image will join those of Ray Harroun, who won the first 500 in 1911, Tommy Milton, who became the first driver to win two of the races in 1923, Louie Meyer, who in 1936 became the first to win three of the races—and who started the tradition that Palou followed this year of celebrating the win with a drink of cold milk—and A. J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears, and Helio Castroneves, the only drivers to win the 500 four times.

Eight winners of the trophy at the Indianapolis start/finish line: Front row (L-R) Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato. Back row: Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter Reay. Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya

“To know that I can come to the (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Museum in like 40 or 50 years, or wherever that trophy is, and see my face and hopefully remember the memories I’ve created this year, it makes it super special. I know my name and face will be there forever,” he said during the carving session.

For as long as sterling silver and the Borg-Warner Trophy exist, Alex Palou’s face will be part of it and the racing history it preserves.

There’s other stuff going on with IndyCar in the off-season—

The latest Formula One driver to check out an IndyCar is Mick Schumacher, wo will make test runs at the Speedway on October 13. Schumacher is the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who won five races when Formula One ran the Indianapolis road course in the early 2000s. He’ll test a car owned by Rahal Letterman Lanegan Racing. He has been running in the World Endurance Car circuit the last couple of years.

Although Alex Palou dominated the series this year with eight wins and 13 podium finishes, a record number of drivers finished in the top three places in the seventeen races this year.

IndyCar’s Curt Cavin records that it has been a decade since so many drivers posted podium finishes in the series. This year, 16 of the 27 regular series drivers had at least one change to spay the campaign, including Scott Dixon who had his 145^th top-three, extending his record.

Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard, celebrated six times. Kyle Kirkwood was on the podium three times this year, each time on the top step.

David Malukis will move into Will Power’s seat with Penske racing next year. Power has moved on to Andretti Global. He drove for Foyt Racing this year. Foyt has a technical alliance with Penske and it had been assumed that Malukis would move to Penske after Power’s contract expired. Malukis finished second in the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Indycar will be back on March 1^st with its traditional season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(Photo Credits: Scott R. LePage, Indycar; Borg Warner, Trophy; Bob Priddy, Elliott)

SPORTS: Two FB Wins; MLB season endihg with a whimper; Another Top-Tier BB Recruit, Etc.

Posted on September 23, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers are a come-from-behind team this year, winning games after trailing, and moving incrementally higher in the rankings after starting the year outside the top 25.

Missouri won again with a strong fourth quarter for a 29-20 win over a team that has shown it was clearly overrated in preseason polls that listed the Gamecocks as number eleven.

The Tigers went into the South Carolina game with another of their players being nationally recognized.

Ahmad Hardy was named the Doak Walker Offensive Player of the Week for his 250-yard rushing performance against Louisiana-Lafayette. It was the second week in a row that a Tiger had received national recognition. Quarterback Beau Pribula was named the Maxwell National Player of the week for his performance in the win against Kansas.

Hardy racked up another 138 yards against South Carolina and now is number two on the national rushing list and leads all running backs in the number of broken tackles a skill he demonstrated in scoring his only touchdown after it appeared he had been bottled up.

South Carolina’s attack showed some holes in the Tigers pass defense but the Gamecock’s running offense did nothing. Less than nothing, actually, finishing with minus=9 rushing yards while getting 302 through the air.

The AP sportswriters poll ranks Missouri 20^th this week, six points behind Michigan. Vanderbilt is 18^th. The tigers are 19^th in the coaches poll, behind Michigan but one position higher than Vanderbilt.

UMass is next.

(MI|ZHONORS)—Four Tigers earned SEC player of the week honors for the game. Hardy was named the offensive player of the week. Freshman of the week is Robert Meyer, who shares the honor with Vanderbilt linebacker Jamison Curtis. Meyer missed his firsts kick of the game—an extra point—but he nailed a 40-yard field goal, his longest of the season, to make Missouri’s fourth-quarter lead a two-possession affair.

The Defensive Lineman of the week is Zion Young, who splits the certificate with Oklahoma’s rusher Mason Thomas. Young had three tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Keegan Trost, who helped open the holes for Missouri running backs, is the offensive lineman of the week.

(XMIZZ)—-Former Tiger Luther Burden III has arrived big time in the NFL.

It was a breakout game for Burden, had three receptions including a catch-and-run 62-yard flea-flicker play that put the Bears up on the Dallas Cowboys 14-3 in the first quarter. His 29-yard reception late in the first half led to another touchdown and a 24-14 Bears lead at the break. He also gained seven yards on a running play to run his total yardage for the day to 108 yards. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs won a generally boring game against a weak New York Giants team 22-9 Sunday night. The win ends a three-game losing streak, including last year’s Super Bowl. The running game showed some fresh spark; the passing game was adequate. But the kicking game was uncharacteristically a mixed bag as Harrison Butker missed a field goal and a point-after. The Chiefs defense kept the Giants’ offense under control, including interception of two Russell Wilson passes.

The Chief play the Baltimore Ravens next weekend.

(KC RICE) Suspended Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is back with the team although he won’t play until three more games are in the books and he can’t practice with the team or be on the field. He can be at the training facility, though.

Xavier Worthy had three limited practice sessions before the Giants game but was not activated. Coach Andy Reed told reporters yesterday that Worthy “practiced and did the best he could but it just wasn’t right…We thought it best if he didn’t play.”

(ROYALS)—Kansas City Royals founder Ewing Kauffman was born 109 years ago Sunday, and his team still has a fain hope of making the playoffs as they go into the last week of the regular season.

The Royals got in a 3-0 hole in the second inning and gave up three more in the fifth before rallying back to 5-5 only to see the Blue Jays pick up two runs in the eighth to win 8-5.

The Royals staved off elimination by taking two of the three weekend games against the Toronto Blue Jays. But that’s more a matter of whistling past the graveyard than thinking they have a chance to extend their season.

The Royals are 78-78 with six games to play. They are six games behind Cleveland and Houston, who have identical 84-72 records coming down the final stretch of the regular season. The Royals only hope is that they win all of their games and Cleveland and Houston lose all of THEIR games for the wild card race to end in a three-way tie.

Sports Illustrated writer Jackson Roberts says the Royals have to beat odds of one in 262,144 to one for that to happen.

The Royals wrap up the season, starting tonight, with six games against the Angels and the Athletics. If they win four of those games they’ll have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a deca

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have to win all of their remaining games to finish at .500. They wrap up the year with three games against the Giants and three more against the Cubs.

The Redbirds used their final home game Sunday to say goodbye to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, who’s retiring from the team after six more games. And their calling back to the dugout for Nolan Arenado after he’d taken the field for the first inning has fueled speculation that they wanted the fans to have a chance to say goodbye to him, too.

He still has a couple of years left on his contract and has a no-trade clause that will have to be worked out if, indeed, St. Louis fans have seen him for the last time in a Cardinals uniform.

(EMPTY SEATS)—Three seasons of increasing mediocrity have caught up with the St. Louis Cardinals who had their lowest per-game attendance in thirty years this year.

Their average attendance this year was 27,778, the second year in a row that per-game attendance has fallen below 40,000. Until 2024, the Cardinals had averaged 40,000 people per game for a decade (not including 2020 and 2021, the pandemic years).

The Post-Dispatch reports the five-game rolling average attendance had fallen to less than 20,000 earlier this month for the first time since the present Busch Stadium opened twenty years ago. Ticket sales have dropped by almost one-million (991,084) from 2023.

In total, 628,108 fewer tickets were sold for Cardinals games in 2025 than a year ago. It’s down 991,084 from the 2023 total.

St. Louis has ranked in the top ten in attendance for more than forty years. The last time they were in the bottom half of major league baseball attendance was 1980.

Well, let’s move on to something else…..

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney has guaranteed will be among the final eight drivers chasing the NASCAR championship in two more weeks.

His win on the Loudon, New Hampshire mile locks him into the next stage of the playoffs as he chases his second title in three years.

The final results were a boost for Team Penske which had been shut out of victory lane in the first three-race round of the playoffs. Blaney was chased across the finish line for the last twenty laps by Josh Berry, who drives for a Penske subsidiary—Wood Racing. Penske teammate Joey Logano, who led the most laps in the race finished fourth.

Team has won the last three Cup championships with Logano’s titles in 2022 and last year bracketing Blaney’s title in ’23.

Missourians have a second chance this year to watch a playoff race as the series moves to the Kansas City area next weekend. The next cutdown of the competing drivers will come the week after the Kansas race when NASCAR runs its last road course of the year, on the Charlotte Roval.

After that only eight drivers will remain.

Heading into the Kansas race, drivers Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace are on the outside looking in.

(Photo Credits: Hardy—Instagram; Burden—Bailey Black, Chicago Bears); Kauffman—KC Royals; Blaney—Bob Priddy)

Sports: Another tune-up for Mizzou; a Tiger loss; Baseball Teams Drifting Out of Contention

Posted on September 16, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZFB)—The Missouri Tigers finished their tune-up schedule by rushing past, over, and through the Ragin’ Cajins from Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday.

Ahmad Hardy was the big battering ram, gaining 250 of the team’s 427 rushing yards and scoring three of the seven touchdowns in a 52-10 win. Only six players in Tiger history have gained more yards in a game than Hardy did Saturday. And he went to the bench with the other starters after the first series on the second half.

For the second straight week, Missouri had two running backs gain more than 100 yards. Marquise Davis rushed for 113 and a touchdown.

The 52-10 score wasn’t as close at the score makes it seem.

Missouri totaled 606 yards to Louisiana’s 121. The defense held Louisiana’s passing game to only two completions in 14 attempts for just four yards. Most of Louisiana’s 121 offensive yards came on an 84-yard run by Zylan Perry in the second quarter.

Quarterback Beau Pribula, coming off his recognition as the Maxwell Player of the Week after his performance against Kansas, had his worst yardage day of his three-game Missouri career, gaining only 174 yards passing on a 15/22 day. Of course that’s because he only played slightly more than one half of football. In his three games as a starter, he is 68/89 passing (76.4%) for 791 yards.

Next up for Mizzou is their first SEC game, against South Carolina, which went into Saturday night’s game as the nation’s 11^th ranked team and was clobbered by Vanderbilt 31-7. CBS Sports dropped South Carolina to 36^th, down 20 from its previous ranking. CBS says Missouri is 20^th, a couple of positions below Vanderbilt, the team that beat South Carolina last weekend.

The Tigers are 23^rd in both AP sportswriters poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

(HORN)—The Sam Horn era as a Mizzou quarterback is over. His leg injury turns out to be a fractured tibia, the large bone in the right lower leg. He’s undergone surgery and is out for the football season of course. He’s expected to make a full recovery.

Getting the surgery done now will give him to rehab his right leg, important because that’s the push-off leg that helps a right-handed pitcher gain momentum on his pitches, an important factor for Horn who was a 17^th round pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year’s MLB draft. He has signed a contract with the Dodgers that left him with the opportunity to play football this year for Missouri.

(MIZZHOF)—MIAHOF has inducted six new members—that’s the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame we’re talking about.

Former Athletics Director Mike Alden, who led the athletics department 1998-2015 and engineered MU’s move to the Southeastern Conference called the shift, “transformational…for our university and the state.” His 17-years in that position is the second-longest in school history. Only Don Faurot served longer, his first stint being eight years, 1935-1941 and his second one the longest, 22 years, from 1946-1967.

Longtime Sports Information Director Bob Brendel (1980-2000) is credited with modernizing the sports information office and for helping create the Hall of Fame. After several years in the information office at the State Transportation Department, Brendel has returned to the MU information office as its historian.

One still-active athlete was elected to the Hall this year—WNBA star Sophie Cunningham, who says, “I bleed black and gold to the core,” is the women’s basketball team’s all-time leading scorer who helped the Lady Tigers get to four NCAA tournaments and was a first-team all SEC choice three years.

Volleyball star Alyssa Munlyn, the first four-time AVCA All-American from Mizzou, played 2015-2018 and still holds the record for most blocks in a career.

A member of Coach Eli Drinkwitz’s staff and former record-setting running back Brock Olivo referred to Mizzou “home for me” in his inaugural remarks. Olivo is now the special teams consultant for the Tigers. When he left Mizzou after the 1997 season for a career in the NFL and the Italian Football League, he was the Mu career rushing and touchdown leader.

The final inductee is basketball player Kareem Rush, a first-round NBA draft pick, the key guy in Mizzou’s run to the Elight Eight. He played for five NBA teams and several minor-league pro basketball teams.

They are the most recent of the 262 members of the Hall who are recognized in the concourse of the Mizzou Field House. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—A 14-point turnaround play was the difference for the Philadelphia Eagles, who flew out of Kansas City with a 20-=17 win, giving the Chiefs losses in their first two games for the first time since 2014, and handing Patrick Mahomes his third straight loss for the first time in his pro career.

The backbreaker for the Chiefs was a touchdown-bound pass Travis Kelce couldn’t handle at the goal line that wound up in the hands of the Eagles’ Andrew Makuba, who took it back 41 yards before being knocked out of bounds by the last Chiefs player who could have stopped him. From where the Eagles scored the touchdown that turned a possible 17-13 Chiefs lead into a 20-10 Eagles advantage.

The Chiefs came back to score a touchdown at the two-minute mark but an on-sides kick failed and the Eagles ran out the clock.

Rashee Rice has started practicing with the team but wasn’t ready to play against the Eagles.

(BASEBALL)—The Cardinals’ faint hopes of making the playoffs are almost invisible. The Royals seem to be drifting out of the picture. Neither is likely to play more than 162 games this year. The only real question is whether either team will finish with a winning season.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals stopped their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win in Milwaukee Sunday, a day after the Brewers became the first MLB team to clinch a playoff berth.

Miles Mikolas had an up day in this up and down season. He went five innings and gave up only two home runs to move closer to a .500 record for the season. He’s 8-10 now and probably has a couple more starts. The Cardinals scored all three of their runs in the second inning on RBI singles by Jose Fermin and Nathan Church. Reliever Riley O’Brien struck out the last batter of the game to get his fourth save in seven chances one day after he bave p three runs without recording an out in Saturday’s 10-inning 9-8 loss.

Mikolas is finishing strong. In his last four starts, he’s thrown 21 innings and given up six runs, no more than two in any of those four games. He has his ERA down to 4.80.

The Cardinals ended the road trip and the week with a 73-77 record. They need to win nine of their next 12 games to finish over .500, eight of 12 to finish break-even.

Yesterday, the Cardinals announced that Nolan Arenado is being reactivated after a rehab stint shows his throwing shoulder is ready for regulatr duty. He hasn’t played July. 30. Freddie Fermin has been sent down to Memphis to make roster room for his return. He’s had a below-average year at the plate this season, coming back to his usual third base position with a .235 average.

(CARDSWYNN)—The Cardinals and shortstop Masyn Winn have decided not to wait for the end of the season to have surgery done on his torn meniscus cartilage. He had hoped to play through the pain to the end of what was being a historic season in which he was well-positioned to win a gold glove.

He’s officially on the ten-day disabled list but that will take him through the end of a solid season highlighted by his defense. He’s made only three errors all year and his .994 fielding average is the best in the National League. He leaves with 22 outs above average, also tops in the National League, equaled only at the time of his departure by the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr.

He’s being replaced on the roster by infielder Jose Fermin, called up from triple-A.

The Cardinals have activated Brendan Donovan, who has been on the IL while recovering from a straight left groin that has kept him out of 25 games. He made his first All-Star game appearance this year. Also coming back is left-handed reliever John King, who has been recovering from a back strain since August 26. To make room for Donovan and King, the Redbirds have optioned pitcher Nick Racquet to Memphis and have released second baseman Garrett Hampson.

(ROYALS)—Kanss City’s loss to the Phillies Saturday dropped them below break-even for the first time in a month as the bullpen gave up a lead. The loss left the Royals 6 ½ games behind Seattle for the last playoff spot in the American League and ruined a night that otherwise would have been a big celebration for a landmark game by Salvador Perez.

Perez hit a home run that gave him 300 for his career AND resulted in his 1,000^th RBI. He got number 301 later in the game. Perez now ranks eighth on the all time list of homer-hitting catchers. Mike Piazza leads the list with 399.

Sunday, Perez brought the Royals back to .500 to wrap up the week on Sunday. They’re 75-75 gong into the last dozen games. Perez had a three-run homer and finished the day driving in half of the Royals’ runs in a 10-3 win over the Phillies.

Despite the loss, Philadelphia became the second team to clinch a playoff position after San Fancisco lost to the Dogers.

With a dozen games to go, the Royals pretty much have to win all of their remaining twelve games.

(KCRAGANS)—Cole Ragans will be back on the mound for the Royals. He’s missed the entire second half of the season so far. He’s expected to start tomorrow night’s game against Seattle.

(NASCAR)—A fiery night race at Bristol Saturday night reduced the playoff field to a dozen and produced the fourth win of the year for Christopher Bell. Only teammate Denny Hamlin has more victories this year—his fifth coming at World Wide Technology a week ago.

Bell’s win gives Joe Gibbs Racing a sweep of the first round of the playoffs. Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin won the first two races.

Bristol was the end of the line for four of the playoff contenders—Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry.

Joining the three JGR drivers for the first of three races in round two (at Loudon, NH) are Ryan Bleny, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logan (who on his third Cup title last year), Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric.

(NASCAR)—The after-race behavior of a three competitors in the race at WWTR has drawn a warning from NASCAR officials.

Cars of Ross Chastain, on the left and teammate Shane Von Gisbergen (right), were seen dropping off the inside of the track on the lap after the checkered flag, a technique sometimes used to pick up some rocks and dirt that adds weight to a car that might be fudging on the lioght side of the weight limit.

Joey Logano also was caught taking a dive into the infield on his cool-down lap.

NASCAR has told teams that similar behavior from now on could incur penalties, including disqualifications. Logano was fifth, Chastain finished 24^th, and Van Gisbergen finished 25^th in the race.

(NHRA)—We don’t usually say much about the National Hot Rod Association, but the retirement of one of its best drivers to focus on raising a family topped a lot of the NHRA news this week. It’s a historic announcement.

Brittany Force announced she will end her 13-year drag racing career, for now, at the end of the season so she and her husband, Bobby Lyons can start a family.

She is the two-time top Fuel world Champion who recently set a record with a top speed of 343.51 mph (did you know that drag strips for the fastest cars are only 1,000 feet long; the traditional quarter mile having been abandoned in 2008 because of the extreme speeds cars were reaching at that distance?). She and her three sisters are daughters of 16-time NHRA Champion John Force. With her departure there will be no one named Force running in NHRA for the first since her father entered the business in 1971.

She is following the lead of Leah Pruett, who stepped aside to give birth to her first child last November. Her husband, former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, has taken her place in the car and has become the NHRA Top Fuel regular season champion. He recently survived a 300 mph-plus crash with a competitor’s car in the shutoff zone that saw his car land on its side and slide some distance before righting itself and hitting a wall.. He later said he had a bad headache and had banged up his left hand. But he later said, “I’ve been through sprint car crashes way worse than this, I’m pretty sure. We’re good. We’re good. We’re fine. I promise we’re fine.”

Leah says she’s taking back her seat next year.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—The Indianapolis Speedway isn’t done with racing yet this year. IMSA brings its sports car racing series to the track this coming weekend.

Next month, The Indy 8 Hour race will be run October 16-18. Cars from seven classes will compete on the road course, the last event until next spring at the Speedway.

(Photo Credits: Hardy—Instagram; Perez—MLB; Meniscus—orthoedge.com; Chastain & Van Gisbergen—Bob Priddy)

Sports: Chiefs Challenge; Tigers Respond and Recruit; The Twilight of the Baseball Season; Moves on the Track, and off.

Posted on September 9, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor.

(MIZFB)—-The Missouri Tigers picked on someone their own size last weekend and roared back from a first-quarter deficit to beat Kansas 42-31. The performance has earned Mizzou 25^th place in the weekly AP poll. The nation’s coaches feel the same way.

there were some prognosticators who thought Kansas could win this one and the first quarter gave them plenty of evidence they were right.

Buthe last three quarters destroyed those expectations as Missouri dominated, allowing kU only four plays while the Tigers ran up fifteen points to tie the game at 21.

The game was the first MU/KU game in almost fifteen years but fans celebrated in their seats at the end.

Here’s why MU’s officials were glad to see that behavior with no fans rushing onto the field to celebrate.

Mississippi State fans celebrated with a field rush after their team beat then 12^th ranked Arizona State 24-20, their first win over a top-20 team since 2022. The NCAA carried out its threat to fine any school that has an incident like that one-half million dollars.

(MIZBB)—Basketball is starting to shoulder its way into the sports picture and Mizzou basketball is making another wave with the signing of its second five-star recruit for its class of 2026. He’s Toni Bryant Jr., a 6-foot-9 forward who’s listed as the 14^th top recruit by ESPN and the 21^st by 247 Sports. He’s playing now at Zephyrhills Christian Academy in Florida. He also was being courted by Kansas, North Carolina and North Carolina State.

Coach Dennis Gates picked up his first five-start guy for the class of 2026 when Jason Crow Jr., signed. He’s the number three recruit on 247’s ratings list.

Crow is a 6-3 guard described as a “prolific scorer” out of Inglewood, California.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have some soul-searching to do after losing to the Chargers 27-21 in front of 17-million fans.

That’s right. 17 million. YouTube, which live-streamed the game to 230 countries from Sao Paolo, Brazil, says 16.1 million viewers watched on their devices in the Unite States and another 1.1 million from other countries also turned on the app for the game.

It was the biggest audience YouTube has had for a single event but it did not break the NFL record for a streaming audience. That belongs Netflix, which drew 24 million streamers for an NFL doubleheader last Christmas.

The Chiefs were flat the first half but showed life in the second, just not enough. They lost Xavier Worthy early in the first half. He dislocated a shoulder. Rookie Jalen Royals missed the game with a knee injury. His evaluation is a day by day thing.

The Chiefs meet the Eagles next weekend. The last time they met, Philadelphia embarrassed Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

Wide Receiver Xavier Worthy will be out of the lineup for a while with a dislocated shoulder. The Chiefs hope he can play eventually while wearing a brace.

As an aside, we offer this:

(REALLY, REALLY OLD)—The Chiefs’ biggest rival through the years as been the Oakland/LA/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. They picked up their first win under new coach Pete Carroll. With that win, Carroll, who is 74, has become the oldest head coach in NFL history. Carroll will be 74 next Monday.

For may years, George F. Halas, one of the founders of the NFL, held the record at 72 years and 318 days. Romeo Crennel became the interim head coach of the Houston Texans five years ago at 73 plus 115 days and took over that record.

Carroll not only is the oldest coach NFL history, he’s the oldest winning coach, thanks to the Raiders’ 2013 win over the Patriots.

Andy Reid is 67.

(BASEBALL)—The Royals have a shot at the playoffs. The Cardinals appear not to have a change. But it’s baseball, folks, and the fat lady hasn’t sung for either of our teams. She might be warming her vocal chords for the Cardinals, though.

St. Louis made it back to break-even at the end of the week, winning seven of their last ten games, and needs to win ten of its remaining eighteen games to finish above that. The Redbirds need nine wins to equal last year’s total.

The Royals are three games above .500, missing a change to draw closer by splitting their last ten games. The first round of playoff games is only three weeks away from today.

(ARENADO)—Nolan Arenado could be headed to Springfield for a rehab assignment if his second day of batting practice today works out. Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Gold says hehopes to return in time for the last homestand next week. He’s been out about six weeks with a right shoulder strain.

Now the Speedy Stuff

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin sounded pretty convincing this past weekend when he indicated he’s giving himself two more years of racing at NASCAR’s highest level. But he showed at World Wide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis that he still has a lot left in the tank at 44, he plans to do whatever he has to do to be competitive enough to go out a winner at the end of 2027.

He became he first five-time winner this year, starting from the pole and locking in his spot in the second round of the playoffs with a 1.6 second over Ryan Briscoe.

The win is his 59^th, one away from his goal of 60 “or more.” Another win will tie him with Kevin Havick for tenth on the all-time NASCAR winners list. He has the most wins by a driver who has never won a Cup championship. His win also is the 200^th NASCAR Cup win for Toyota.

World Wide Technology Raceway has one of the narrowest pit lanes in the series and sometimes it gets pretty congested.

Hamlin signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing in May and has maintained that he plans to bow out of active racing at end of that contract. He has seen too many athletes, including some in NASCAR who have held on, even racing with lesser teams that have not fielded winning equipment. He says he doesn’t want to be one of those drivers.

“I’m just not going to leave this sport on my deathbed, you know, just leaking oil, running in the back of the pack. I have way too much pride for that. I’m way too cocky for that. There’s just no way. I want to be able to win my last race. To do that, I’m going to have to retire when I’m racing like this.”

At 44, he is a year older and considerably more competitive than the next-oldest driver, A. J. Allmendinger who has three wins in 474 races and a career average finish of 21^st: Michael McDowell is 40 and has never finished better than 15^th in points; and 40-year old Brad Keselowski, the NASCAR champion in 2012, like Hamlin involved in a team ownership, but who has had mediocre seasons the last two years.

“I’m sure there’s someone me competitive than me. I just have never met them. I just think that there’s a few people in every sport that are just built a little different, and they just won’t settle for anything but winning,” he said in his post-race news conference at WWTR Sunday night.

(INDYCAR)—Within days after the last race at Nashville, two major events came to the surface: the end of Will Power’s career with Penske and a major shift by Colton Herta, who leaves Andretti Global to pursue his Formula One dream.

Andretti Global quickly signed Power to a contract fill Herta’s seat and to join Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson for 2026. Power will be switching to Honda power with his new team after spending his career with Penske powered by Chevrolet engines. “This is a whole new chapter for me,” he said at the announcement event. “I have to say that sometimes a change of scenery and a fresh start is very energizing. I can’t wait.”

Power holds the IndyCar record with 71 poles. He’s fourth on the all-time wins list with 45, and is fourth in both number of podium finishes (108) and top fives (142) in more than 300 starts.

In 20 full years of top-level open wheel racing, Power has finished in the top ten in points 19 times. In more than 315 career races, his average starting position has been sixth and his average finish has been ninth. He has two series championships and an Indianapolis 500 win on his record, too.

Colton Herta, who has dreamed of racing in Formula 1is leaving IndyCar to pursue that dream with the new Cadillac Formula One team. Cadillac has signed veterans Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez as its drivers for next year but Herta will be the team’s test driver and likely will run some Formula 2 or 3 races to accumulate the number of points needed to become a full-time drivber on the circuit.

Herta became the youngest winner in IndyCar history six years ago. He leaves the series with nine victories and 16 poles in 116 races.

He’s had a taste of Europe already. He tested a 2021-spec McLaren F1 car in 2022. He also competed in some lower-level races before coming back to the states to race in IndyCar.

(FORMUA ONE)—When it comes to money—HUGE money—Formula 1 makes the two major American series look very small. This past week is an example. McLaren announced that it is now entirely owned by companies in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, making it a five-Billion dollar team. Mumtalakat, a sovereign wealth fund in Bahrain will be the majority stockholder. CYVN, which is majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi government will be the minority stockholder.

The deal involves these two companies buying the remaining thirty percent of McLaren that they did not already own from three five other investment funds.

McLaren has been the dominant team in Formula 1 with nine straight constructors’ titles. It has won twelve of the fifteen grands prix run so far this year and both of its drivers are in the fight for the driver’s championship.

Last weekend, Max Verstappen picked up his first win since May, taking the Italian Grand Prix by more than 19 seconds over McLaren’s Lando Norris.

(Illustrative material: University of Missouri, Kansas City Chiefs, Racing—Bob Priddy)

Sports: The Good and Sad Tiger Opener; We Explain “The Practice Squad,” and Other Sports Stuff

Posted on September 2, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—-The Missouri Tigers were expected to roll over Central Arkansas in their season opener but few thought they would run up 61 points. Central Arkansas has a student body of less than one-third of the student body in Columbia. The Bears didn’t score until 22 seconds were left in the game.

Sam Horn’s dream of being a starting quarterback for the Tigers are likely gone because of a serious right leg injury suffered on his first play in the game. He underwent an MRI and more tests will be run this week but Coach Drinkwitz says he’s gone “for an extended period of time.”

Beau Pribula, however, left no doubt that he’s capable of running the Missouri offense. He accounted for more than 400 yards running and passing.

The Tiger also lost starting place kicker Blake Craig, who suffered a leg injury making a tackle on a kickoff. True freshman Robert Meyer was good on all four of his extra points as Craig’s replacement.

The next opponent is a more substantial one. Missouri and Kansas will play for the first time in fourteen years next Saturday, in Columbia. Kansas has won its first games, also against lower-level teams. They’re shown they also can score bunches of points in their wins, 31-7 against Fresno State and 46-7 against Wagner.

Missouri leads the series 56-55. There have ben nine ties. Missouri has a one-game edge because kU had to forfeit its 23-7 win over the then-#1Tigers in 1960 because Kansas halfback Bert Coan was ineligible.

(MIZNFL)—Some made the teams. Some didn’t but are sticking around. Some are hurt. SI.com has this list of former Missouri Tigers who are connected, or not, to NFL teams:

Former Missouri Tigers on NFL Rosters

Kris Abrams-Draine, Denver Broncos, Cornerback
Tyler Badie, Denver Broncos, Running back
Nick Bolton, Kansas City Chiefs, Linebacker
Larry Borom, Miami Dolphins, Tackle
Marcus Bryant, New England Patriots, Tackle
Luther Burden III, Chicago Bears, Wide receiver
Jordan Elliott, San Francisco 49ers, Defensive tackle
Akayleb Evans, Carolina Panthers, Cornerback
Ty’Ron Hopper, Green Bay Packers, Linebacker
Marcellis Johnson, Indianapolis Colts, Tackle
Drew Lock, Seattle Seahawks, Quarterback
Isaiah McGuire, Cleveland Browns, Defensive end
Armand Membou, New York Jets, Tackle
Darius Robinson, Arizona Cardinals, Defensive end

Released (some have been signed to practice squads)
Joshuah Bledsoe, Tennessee Titans, Safety
Jaylon Carlies, Indianapolis Colts, Linebacker
Trystan Colon, Detroit Lions, Center
Brady Cook, New York Jets, Quarterback
Jacon Foster, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tackle
Harrison Mevis, New York Jets, Kicker
Nate Noel, Indianapolis Colts, Running back
Albert Okwuegbunam, Las Vegas Raiders, Tight end
Cody Schrader, Los Angeles Rams, Running back
Theo Wease Jr., Miami Dolphins, Wide receiver
Kristian Williams, Denver Broncos, Defensive tackle

Injured List
Yasir Durant, T, New England Patriots
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB, Detroit Lions
Johnny Walker, OLB, Denver Broncos
Kristian Williams, DT, Denver Broncos

Reserve/Designated to Returm
Jaylon Carlies, LB, Indianapolis Colts

Practice Squads
Trystan Colon, C, Detroit Lions
Brady Cook, QB, New York Jets
Marcellus Johnson, OT, Indianapolis Colts
Harrison Mevis, K, New York Jets
Albert Okwuegbunam Jr., TE, Las Vegas Raiders
Cody Schrader, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
Theo Wease Jr., WR, Miami Dolphins

Profootballnetork.com’s Piiyanshu Choudhary has a good explanation of what practice squad members are paid:

Close to 1,000 players hit the free agent market simultaneously, allowing teams to stock up on depth pieces at positions of need. All practice squad players are eligible to make the team on game day, giving coaches some flexibility with their lineups. But what is the compensation for the players on these practice squads? How much do they earn for the role? And what are the rules that govern their standing across the NFL?

NFL Practice Squad Salaries

The NFL separates players on the practice squad into two distinct categories. Any member with two or fewer years of experience falls into the first group, while those with more than two years of experience fall into the other category.

For the relatively newcomers to the league, the weekly salary amounts to $13,000 in 2025, as agreed upon by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, that number is not static and continues to increase each year.

2025: $13,000
2026: $13,750
2027: $14,500
2028: $15,250
2029: $16,000
2030: $16,750

The salary is also defined by the CBA for players who qualify in the veteran portion of the agreement. However, their value can be set within a specified range rather than a fixed number, depending on what their agents can negotiate.

That designation falls in the $17,500 to $22,000 range for the 2025 season. However, like the previous list, these numbers continue to grow until the current CBA’s extension of 2030.

2025: $17,500 – $22,000
2026: $18,350 – $22,850
2027: $19,200 – $23,700
2028: $20,900 – $25,400
2029: $20,900 – $25,400
2030: $21,750 – $26,250

How Many Players Can Be on an NFL Practice Squad?

The first unofficial practice squad was established in 1946, courtesy of Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown. Four years later, the NFL made it official for each franchise to have a practice squad.

In 1993, the official count for players on the practice squad was limited to five, courtesy of the CBA. However, that number doubled to 10 in April 2004 and remained stagnant til 2019. The onset of COVID-19 led to a change once again, with the pool expanding to 16 players.

This year, though, that number is taking another slight bump, with 17 total players allowed on the roster. However, two further guidelines are in place for the squad’s constituents.

One player must be a member of the NFL’s International Pathway Program. Of the remaining 16 players, at least 10 should qualify for the two-year or less criteria in relation to their experience in the league.

Each week, teams have a chance of locking in four players to protect them from making a different team’s active roster. However, a team can only activate a player twice before giving him an official contract.

Who Is Eligible To Be on an NFL Practice Squad?

Not all players are eligible to be on an NFL team’s practice squad. Rookies cannot be placed on the practice squad. Additionally, players on the active list for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued NFL season are also ineligible.

When players are elevated from the practice squad on game days, they count toward the 48-player limit each roster must present.

Only two practice-squad players can be elevated for the same game, and players can only be elevated three times until they need to be signed onto the active roster.

ESPN adds more information:

What does an average day look like for a member of an NFL practice squad?

He does everything an active player would during the week. He practices, does film work and eats meals at the team facility. He travels with the team for road games. But on game day, he’s in street clothes unless he gets called up.

Can NFL practice squad members get traded? How much stability do they have?

Only players on the active roster can be traded. But teams can sign a practice squad player for one week, only to release him the next.

What happens to NFL practice squad members at the end of the season?

Practice squads are only active during the regular season and postseason. Once the season is over, practice squad members are typically signed to reserve/futures contracts by their teams. With those contracts, players can be members of the team’s offseason roster at the start of the new league year in March. Most practice squad contracts automatically terminate one week after the team’s final game of the regular season or postseason.

Do NFL practice squad members receive Super Bowl rings?

Per the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, practice squad members are entitled to Super Bowl rings, though they may be of lesser value than the rings their full-time active counterparts receive on the team.

And finally, from fluentrugby.com:

NFL practice squad players receive a range of benefits including pension (if they play at least 3 seasons), player insurance, 401(k) and disability payments.

NFL practice squad players receive the following benefits:

Player insurance – Practice squad NFL players receive Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug, and Life Insurance.
401(k) – NFL practice squad members can defer salary and place it in their 401(k) where they make tax free investments.
Disability plan – NFL practice squad players receive a range of different disability payments and support.

(CHIEFS)—Brazil gets a taste of Chiefs football when Kansas City opens its season against the Los Angeles Chargers in Arena Corinthians in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The Chiefs are no stranger to taking NFL football into foreign countries but this will be their first game in South America. The game is on ESPN and can be streamed with an app.

Receiver Rashee Rice will miss the first six games as he pays a suspension penalty for his reckless driving crash that injured people in other cars last year. He’ll play his first game on October 19^th against the Raiders. He is barred from the team practice facility until preparations for that game.

(BASEBALL)—Holy Smokes, folks! There are only 23 games left in the regular baseball season! The Royals are only three games out of a wild card playoff position. The Cardinals are 5½ games out. Detroit shut out the Royals Sunday on only four hits and kept KC from pulling within two games of the wildcard.

(CARDINALS)—Michael McGreevy is emerging as a potential Cardinals star next year. His win in an unusual game on Saturday makes him 6-2. How he got that sixth win is historic. For the first time since 2009 the Cardinals won a game in their pitchers recorded zero strikeouts. McGreevy and three relievers inducted 17 groundouts and beat the Reds 4-2.

Sunday, the Cardinals struck out 15 times in dropping a 7-4 game that kept them from getting back to .500. They have split their last ten games and started the week 68-70.

(ROYALS)—Kansas City also has split their last ten and started this week with the reverse of the Cardinals at 70-68.

Going a longways to get back to where you started—

(INDYCAR)—Josef Newgarden has ended his most difficult IndyCar season with a win in the last race of the year, only the second victories in 17 races for Team Penske. Newgarden broke an uncharacteristic twenty-race winless streak He held off series champion Alex Palou for the last eleven laps on his hometown oval in Nashville.

He picked up the guitar trophy for winning the Music City Grand Prix. Palou received the Astor Challenge Cup for the fourth time, the third time in a row, for being the national champion and Louis Foster shaded Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter Robert Schwartzman for Rookie of the Year.

Newgarden teammate Scott McLaughlin equaled his second best with his third third-place finish to put two Penske drivers on the podium for only the second time this year.

IndyCar racing, known for its high-speed competition, recorded a dozen leaders, twenty lead changes, and 284 passes for position in the 225-lap race.

But IndyCar is done for the year now. Not until next March 1 when IndyCar’s 31^st season begins on the streets of St. Petersburg. It also will be the 115^th year when a champion of American open-wheel racing will be crowned.

(WHITHER POWER IN ’26)—The biggest question about who will drive for who next year is waiting for one big decision from Penske Racing and whether its senior driver, Will Power, will sign a new contract or will move on. David Malukis, who has driven for A. J. Foyt Racing is being talked about Power’s heir-apparent at Penske.

Power had the best year of any Penske driver this year. He finished eighth in the points; Mclaughlin was tenth and Newgarden was 16^th. Power had one of the two poles won by Penske this year and, until Newgarden’s season-ending win last weekend, had the team’s only win.

The end of the race and the end of the season came just before a meeting with team owner Roger Penske from which he emerged still not knowing if he’ll have a contract for next year. But it’s clear from reports and from his emotional reactions at the end of the race and at the end of the meeting that he seems to have accepted the idea that he’ll be moving on.

He told reporters, “Either way, no matter what happens, Roger has been extremely good to me. Very, very good to me. I’ve been lucky for the chance to win championships, Indy 500, a lot of races, poles. So whatever happens, I think I was so lucky to drive for Roger Penske.”

It’s been quite a ride—the 2018 Indianapolis 500, forty other race wins, a record 71 pole positions and two championships. Power will be 45 about the time the next season starts. Malukis is 23. Only Scott Dixon is older among active IndyCar Drivers. Dixon, a six-time champion who trails only A. J. Foyt in total victories will be 45 next year. Dixon, like Power, has driven for only one team throughout his IndyCar career.

(NASCAR)—Chase Briscoe is making the most of his off-season move from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas team to Joe Gibbs Racing, picking up his second win of the year at an opportune time—the first race in the playoffs. The race celebrating the 75^th Southern 500 at Darlington scrambled the playoff standings with only Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin finishing in the top ten. Only six of the sixteen drivers finish in the top 15.

Briscoe, who drives the only car sponsored by a Missouri company in the Cup Series, also has won five poles this year and narrowly lost his sixth one to Denny Hamlin, led 307 of the 367 laps two win his second straight race at “the track too tough to tame.” The last time anyone won two straight races at Darlington was when Greg Biffle did it in 2005 and 2006.

Two more races remain before the field is cut to a dozen drivers. Last year’s champion, Joey Logano is three points below the cutline, followed by Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry.

(Photo credits: Power—Bob Priddy; Newgarden—IndyCar; Pribula—Instagram; Briscoe car—Rick Gevers; Rice—Kansas City Chiefs)

Sports: Football Time, Ready or Not; Baseball Lingers; a Second Season for one Racing Series and the End Nears for Another

Posted on August 26, 2025 by bpriddy

by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Next week, we’ll be telling you about the real start of the football season. Here’s where somethings stand in the days before the start of one season emphasizes the short life left for another one.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers will start the season with two starting quarterbacks next weekend. One will start the first half and the other will start the second half.

(MIZ-STATE)—Missouri State is taking a big step this year, moving into the top tier of college football. The Bears make their debut in the really big time with a game next weekend against the Southern Cal Trojans.

(LINCFB)—Lincoln University moves fully into the Great Lakes Valley Conference, hoping to be more competitive that anytime in recent memory. Lincoln was 1-10 last year

Former Blue Tiger “Leapin’ LeMar” Parrish has been elected to the Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor Parrish, who played for Lincoln 1966-69.

The Bengals’ announcement of his honor summarizes his career:

Parrish, known as “Leapin’ Lemar,” is remembered by fans as one of the most athletically gifted and exciting players in team history. Recognized for his charismatic personality and flashy attire in the 1970s, his play was just as electrifying. He remains the franchise’s highest scoring defensive player, with touchdown returns recorded on four interceptions, four punts, three fumbles and one kickoff. He boasted an 18.8-yard punt return average in 1974, which still is the best mark by any player in a season since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger. His 90-yard punt return against Washington that season is the second-longest in Bengals history, and it occurred in the same game he returned a fumble recovery 47 yards for a TD. Parrish tallied 25 INTs as a member of the Bengals, the fifth-most in team history, then went on to record 22 more during stints with Washington and Buffalo. His six Pro Bowl selections (1970-71, ’74-77) are the second-most ever by a Bengals defensive player. Parrish is one of six cornerbacks with at least eight Pro Bowls and the only one not in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Parrish joins another Bengal great, Dave Lapham, in joining the Ring of Honor. You can find of interviews of the two men at https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-litmus-caerus&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-caerus&hspart=litmus&p=lemarr+parrish&type=1476589-vsub-2_25083_2_E0_V_nwtb3#id=7&vid=751e53a6ab0fc80ef86aea0e84314657&action=click

His part of the interview begins at 25:12. Parrish also was he head football coach at his alma mater for four seasons.

Parrish played for Coach Dwight T. Reed, for whom the Lincoln Stadium is named. Reed won 135 of Lincoln’s 248 total wins. He lost only 76 of the 453 school losses. His teams played six of the university’s 25 football ties.

(BASEBALL)—The Royals are surging. The Cardinals are drifting.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals beat Detroit 10-8 Sunday to avoid a series sweep by the Tigers and to end their five=game winning streak. The win leaves the Royals, winners of seven of their last ten, 67-64, in second place in their division heading into a new week.

Taking the loss for Detroit was former Cardinals star Jack Flaherty, who drops to 7-13. Flaherty had one of his worst outings of the year, giving up seven straight hits that resulted in six Royals runs in the third inning. KC, 7-3 in their last ten games, is three games above .500, in second place in their division.

Royals veteran Salvador Perez no longer has the major league record for most home runs in a season by a player who is primarily a catcher. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh, who is on a pace to beat Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62 homers, hit his 48^th and 49^th home run Sunday, breaking his tie with Perez, who hit 48 in 2021.

(CARDINALS)—Cardinals shortstop Masyn Wynn got his second MRI on his left knee in the last two months yesterday.

He did not play Sunday. Wynn says the MRI in July “showed a little something,” and added, “I’m assuming this one’s going to show a little more.” Regardless of the results, he says he’ll “play through it and suck it up.” He says the Cardinals still have a shot at the playoffs “so I want to be out there and playing shortstop as much as I can.”

The Cardinals’ chances of making the playoffs do not appear promising, though. Their Sunday loss to Tampa Bay dropped them to 64-67, five and a half games out of the last wild card playoff slot. It was their eighth loss in their last eleven games.

Cardinals Nation is not taking this season well. The average attendance is its lowest since 1984 as the team continues to be on a track for a mediocre season at best and heads toward the Labor Day weekend showing no signs of breaking out.

Speaking of being on a track—

(INDYCAR)—It has been 39 IndyCar races since the series saw a first-time winner. But Christian Rasmussen stopped that string with a stirring late-race run to win the next-to-last IndyCar race of the year, on the ancient Milwaukee mile.

Rasmussen pitted when a few drops of rain oozed out of the sky and caused a caution flag late in the race.

While race leaders Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, and Josef Newgarden stayed out to hold their track positions, Rasmussen and the rest of the field got new tires before getting back on the track with about forty laps to go. Within twenty laps the better grip of the new tires had allowed Rasmussen to catch Palou, swoop past him and pull away to a two-second lead at the end.

Rasmussen, who is in his second year at the top level of American open-wheel competition, had his first career podium finish a few weeks ago at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. He has posted his first victory in his 30^th IndyCar race.

Rasmussen, who drives for Ed Carpenter Racing, outran three drivers from two of the series powerhouses—Palou, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing, and McLaughlin and Newgarden, who drive for Penske. His win is the first for ECR in more than four years—since Rinus VeeKay won on the Indianapolis Speedway road course in May, 2021.

Palou’s runer-up finish means he no longer has chance of equaling A. J. Foyt’s record of ten victories in a season. Palou has eight wins and a dozen top-three finishes in sixteen races this year.

The IndyCar season wraps up next weekend in Nashville.

(NASCAR-I)—Sixteen NASCAR drivers start their new season next weekend. No matter where the rest of the drivers are in the points now or how many races they win in the next three months, the highest any of them will finish will be 17^th.

Ryan Blaney, the Cup champion two years ago, is headed to the ten-race championship runoff on a high after winning the regular seasons concluding race at Daytona Saturday night. His win is the first for Ford since Blaney won in Nashville on June 1.

Blaney shook off a mediocre start this year to finish second in the regular season points. He’ll go into the first playoff race on a roll, with five straight top-ten finishes including the Daytona win.

Two drivers without wins this year have made the sixteen car field==Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman. Blaney finished behind William Byron in the regular season championship points standings. He will start the playoffs as the fourth seed.

Fourteen drivers have victories this year that locked them into the playoffs. If a driver who had not previously won a race this year had won at Daytona Saturday night, Alex Bowman would not have had enough points for the playoffs.

Here are the sixteen drivers who will start the championship run next weekend:

(Left to right: Alex Boman, Josh Berry, Ross Chastian, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Shane Van Gisbergen—the NASCAR Cup—Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick.

The first three-race elimination round begins next weekend at Darlington. The next playoff race after that is at World Wide Technology Raceway, a few minutes across the river from St. Louis. It’s the first NASCAR playoff race to be held at that track, which has been steadily gaining in importance for NASCAR since owner Curtis Francois kept it from being sold for redevelopment, and reopened it in 2011.

The field of sixteen will be reduced to eight after the next three races. Three more races will eliminate half of those drivers and the next three will leave only two who can race for the championship—-regardless of where they are in the season points standings.

That’s a sore point for some in the garages as well as some in the grandstands, especially after Joey Logano won his third championship last year when he would have been 15th in points if there had been no playoffs. Logano made the playoffs with one win in the regular season but won the title with three wins in the playoffs.

(NASCAR-II)—A big change for Trackhouse Racing was announced before the Daytona Race. Connor Zillish will replace Daniel Suarez. Zilisch is moving up from the NASCAR send tier to join Ross Chastain and Shane Van Gisbergen after having a strong season this year with JR motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team and is the points leader in that series.

He broke his collarbone in a fall after climbing out of the cockpit to celebrate a win. He drove in Friday night’s Daytona race with s plate in his collarbone, was replaced during the race by Parker Kligerman, who became the first relief driver in 18 years to win a NASAR race.

In the record books, though, the win is Zilisch’s because he started the race in the car. Officially Kligerman remains winless in 122 races but he’ll take Zilisch’s place in the JR Motorsports car next year.

Zilisch is just 19 and already has co-driven cars to class victories in the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours.

(Photo credits: Parrish—Cincinnati Bengals; Winn—MLB; Rasmussen car—Rick Gevers; Rasmussen and Blaney—Bob Priddy; Playoff field—NASCAR)

Sports: Ho-Hum Baseball; Chiefs start; Tigers undecided; Sophie Steps Up; and the fast stuff.

Posted on August 12, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BASEBALL)—Neither of our teams has caught any fire since the end of the trading deadline. This year, more than most, it is likely a lot of fans are excited about the advent of the football season more than they are about the how the Cardinals and the Royals are slouching toward the season’s end.

We went back to the All-Star break to see if the trading deadline (or anything else) has done anything to make the blood flow more rapidly. And the answer is a big fat NOPE.

Cardinals, at the break, were 51-46. As of the end of the weekend they had staggered to 58-60, a record of 9-13. The Royals were 47-50. Now they are 58-60 now, a record of 11-10, better than the Cardinals but basically becalmed.

So let’s look at something more entertaining. Such as—

(Sophie)—Former MU women’s basketball great Sophie Cunningham has turned the arrival at the Indiana Fever’s dressing room before a game into a red-carpet photo shoot. She’s glamourous and she likes to dress in camera-stopping styles.

With Caitlin Clark out and injuries last weekend to two other key Fever players, more weight has been put on her shoulders to not only be a team enforcer but a team on-floor leader. She was all of that last weekend against the Chicago Sky when she led the way with 18 points and added three rebounds, two assists, and a steal, with only one and a turnover

(FOOTBALL)—The Chiefs have played their first exhibition game and used it to let a lot of guys do some exhibiting. Coach Reid had said the starters would play about a quarter. The Chiefs got a short field and scored on their first three plays in the game, producing an early exit for Patrick Mahomes and the first unit. The Chiefs lost to the Cardinals 17-14.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers aren’t exciting the national pollsters as they head into their first game unranked this year. They finished 22^nd last year but in both the sportswriters and the coaches’ poll, they don’t make the top 25.

Missouri has four teams ranked on the pre-seasons polls on the schedule this year: Alabama (8), Oklahoma (18), South Carolina (13), and Texas A&M (19).

The Tigers held their second scrimmage of the fall camp last weekend. Coach Drinkwitz saw no separation between the two players competing for starting quarterback—Sam Horn and Beau Pribula, and felt other segments of the offense and defense still need polishing before the Central Arkansas Bears provide the first test of hitting people from other teams on August 28.

(MIZZALUMNI)—From time to time we’ll catch up on former Tigers in the NFL and check on whether they make the squad this year.

There’s bad news about linebacker Ennis Rakestraw, who’s out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury during the first workout for the Detroit Lions. He only played eight games last year because of a hamstring injury. He’s had surgery on his shoulder.

MIZZBIZ)—With college football increasingly becoming a cash enterprise, schools are hiring people for jobs most fans could never have imagined just a few years ago. Case in point: Tigers football has added Gaurav Verma as the Director of Football Strategy and Finance. He’ll figure out how Missouri can get the most bang for its bucks in recruiting talent. He won’t recruit, he’ll just deal with the financial part of today’s college football recruiting. His most recent credential explains a good deal of what he’s going to do at Missouri: Salary cap specialist with the Denver Broncos. He has an MBA from MIT. ($OU)

Moving right along. Rapidly.

(INDYCAR)—A couple of major story lines come out of the Grand Prix of Portland IndyCar race this weekend: a race winner at last and a champion again.

Let’s talk about the race winner, Will Power, the first Penske driver this year to win a race in the series owned by Roger Penske, the senior driver on the team and one whose contract runs out at the end of the season.

First: The three-driver Penske program has suffered through a miserable year of mistakes, rules violations, and mediocre finishes. How difficult has it been for the team known for its dominance of the sport? In 45 combined races this year, Power has the only win and one of three poles (at Worldwide Technology Raceway). The three drivers have accumulated only twenty top ten finishes and only a dozen top fives, including the win for Power at Portland. The three drivers have led only 490 of the 1,980 laps run in those fifteen races. By contrast, this year’s champion (more about him later) has led 568.

Power is sixth in the points standings this year. Teammates Scott McLaughlin are 6^th and 18^th, respectively.

Power is 44. Only Scott Dixon, at 45 is older among active IndyCar drivers. He’s won the national championship twice and the Indianapolis 500 once. He has started from the pole 71 times, the all time championship car record. His 45 wins are the fourth-most ever, trailing only A. J. Foyt (67), Dixon (59, including Mid-Ohio this year), and Mario Andretti (52).

Power shook off discussions of his future with Penske after the race.

The second story belongs to the driver who finished third in the race, Alex Palou. He accumulated enough points to guarantee his fourth series championship in the last five years. His nearest competitor for the title, pole-winner Pato O’Ward saw his distance chances disappear when his car developed an electrical problem and he finished the day eight laps behind Power, in 25^th place.

Palou, who is 28, will run the remaining two races in the IndyCar series this year with the “champion” sticker on his rear spoiler. He has won the last three championships. He is the only Spaniard to win a national championship in open-wheel racing in this country. In May, he became the first driver from Spain to win the Indianapolis 500.

He has put together one of the most dominant years in IndyCar history. He has won eight of the fifteen races and finished second twice. It has been a remarkably consistent year with finishes in the top ten 13 times, 12 of those times in the top five.

Only A.J. Foyt (7) and Dixon (6) have more championships.

(NASCAR)—Watkins Glen is a road course—-and that’s fresh meat for Shane von Gisbergen, who has won four road and street races this year. He joined Denny Hamlin as the winner of four races in the series this year. The closest competitor at the end, Christopher Bell, was a distant 11.2 second back.

(Photo credits: Sophie—Bob Priddy; Power—Rick Gevers; Palou—Indycar; Rakestraw–Detroit News)

Sports: Trades but no immediate gains; Stadiums suit; History on the track

Posted on August 5, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Neither of our major league teams found any blocks to bust in the late-season trading period. But both got a little help and some possible future performers.

(ROYALS TRADES)—Backup Kansas City Royals catcher Freddy Fermin has been traded to San Diego for a couple of pitching prospects. The Royals get pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, both of who started games last week. Kolek has made fourteen starts this year and comes over with a 4.18 ERA. Bergert is a reliever who has a 2.78 ERA and is averaging almost one strikeout per inning this year.

Fermin had been the backup to Salvador Perez behind the plate. No replacement for Fermin has been announced by the team as we go to press.

Kansas City got a last-minute deal done to strengthen its outfield defense by getting Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, a 34-year old veteran hitting .231 this year. He’s the son of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, he great Boston Red Sox outfielder. The Giants get minor league pitcher Yunior Marte from the Royals.

That deal paid off quickly for KC on Friday night when Yastrzemski homered in his first game in Royal Blue helping the Royals win for the seventh time in their last ten games and reach the .500 mark for the first time in a month.

Saturday, KC moved some of its player chess pieces around, adding Bergert and pitcher Baily Falter to the active roster, optioning Jonathan Bowlan to Omaha, and designating pitcher Thomas Hatch for assignment.

They had gotten Falter in their trade with the Pirates that gave Pittsburgh first baseman prospect Callan Moss and reliever Evan Sisk. .

Hatch had been cut loose by the Pirates after the 2023 season and spent the last couple of years playing in Japan. He signed a minor league deal with KC after the Hiroshima Toyo Carp announced he wouldn’t be retained this year. He was added to the Royals roster on June 5^th and DFA’d the next day. Nobody else wanted him so he was sent down to Omaha before returning July 29. He pitched one inning and gave up two runs before his latest demotion.

The Royals started this week back at .500 for the first time since June 30

(DOWNHILL)—It didn’t take long for the Royals to decide a 45-year old journeyman pitcher couldn’t cut it with his 14^th major league team. Rich Hill was designated for assignment last week after two starts, both of which were no-decisions and the last of which was worth only four innings and led to some of the pitching staff’s 14 walks in a game. In his two starts, he pitched nine innings, gave up five earned runs (seven overall) on nine hits.

Hill has asked to become a free agent instead of going back to Omaha.

Hatch took his place on the roster, but only briefly.

The Royals pitching staff is pretty lean now with Bubic out, probably for the year with a rotator cuff injury, and Cole Ragans (also with a rotator cuff strain) and Michael Lorenzen on the IL with a left oblique strain.

(CARDINALS)—-The Cardinals were not as active as some expected as the trading deadline rushed toward them, making some potential upside trades by unloading some expiring contract players. Some position players considered possible trades remain with the club, leaving St. Louis with some attractive bait for off-season and free agent acquisitions. Nolan Arenado and his no-trade clause remain in St. Louis.

Just a year after Ryan Helsley set a Cardinals record with 49 saves, he has been sent to the Mets with St. Louis getting three minor leaguers that are considered guys with solid futures: shortstop Jesus Baez and right-handed pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt.

Although he’s been a closer for St. Louis, he’s expected to be the setup man for Edward Diaz in New York. He worked his first game as a Met on Friday night, pitched one inning, allowed to hits but struck out the side in his 37^th appearance of the year. His ERA dropped to 2.92.

Helsley’s departure leaves the Cardinals with JoJo Romero as their best closer option. But he’s also the only left-handed reliever, so Manager Oil Marmol has indicated the Redbirds will use the committee approach to close out games the rest of the way this year.

The key player for the Cardinals in this trade is Baez, a shortstop who is the Mets’ number five prospect and ranked 92^nd in all of major league baseball. He’s hitting .242 after 75 games in the minors this year. He’s played other infield positions, too.

The Cardinals also got rid of reliever Steven Matz, shipping him to Boston for one of the top prospects in the Red Sox farm system,

Blaze Jordan, who is 22, a five-year minor leaguer with a career average of .291 with 55 homers and 303 RBI. This year he has hit .308 in double and triple-A, with a dozen home runs and 62 RBI. The Cardinals also like the fact that he strikes out only ten percent of the time.

He first attracted public attention when he was a kid. When he was 11, he hit a homer that went 395 feet. At thirteen, he hit one that came down 500 feet away from the batter’s box.

Shortly before the trade deadline, the Cardinals sent reliever Phil Maton to the Texas Rangers. Maton was having the best year of his career, with 40 calls from the pen, 48 Ks in 38.1 innings and a 2.35 ERA. In return, the Cardinals get some promising minor leaguers; pitchers Mason Molina, a starter, and reliver Skylar Hayes. Molina is in High-A and Hayes is in Triple-A.

After the wheeling and dealing was finished, the Cardinals lost for the eighth time in their last eleven games Sunday to drop below .500 at the start of this week.

(FEDDE)—It took just 4 2/3 innings for the Atlanta Braves to learn why the St. Louis Cardinals dumped Erik Fedde. Pitching against the Royals last week, Fedde gave up four earned runs on five hits (one being a home run). He struck out three in his first appearance.

(FOOTBALL POLITICS)—Whether the Chiefs and the Royals stay in Missouri has been thrown into some additional uncertainty by the filing of a lawsuit that challenges recent legislative action providing state funding to keep them from moving to Kansas.

Two state senators, Mike Moon and Bryant Wolfin have been joined by property rights activist Ron Calzone in filing suit saying legislation providing financial help is unconstitutional. Their suit challenges the proposed state funding as a “direct gift or bribe to the owners of the Chiefs and the Royals.”

The legislation commits the state to issue bonds to pay for as much as one-half of the costs of renovating Arrowhead Stadium and building a new stadium for the Royals. Tax revenue generated by the teams would help pay off the bonds.

Kansas is promising to issue bonds paying up to 70% for new stadiums if the teams move across the state line.

Negotiations involving the two states and the two teams are continuing. The legislature meets in September to consider overriding any of Governor Kehoe’s vetoes of bills from the regular session that ended in May. Kehoe could convene a concurrent special session to pass a bill answering the court challenges but it is too early to make that decision.

The Chiefs play their first pre-season game next Saturday.

(UFL)—The United Football League is going to look different next spring but the changes do not directly affect the St. Louis Battlehawks.

The new man in charge of league business operations, Mike Repole, has announced at least two teams and maybe all four of the USFL franchises will be moved—the Memphis Showboats, Hosuton Roughnecks, Birmingham Stallions, and the Michigan Panthers. The Michigan Panthers won their division this year but lost the DC Defenders in the championship game, which was played in the St. Louis dome in March. The only new market confirmed so far is Columbus, Ohio although the league has trademarked four team names from the original UFL: Oakland Invaders, Philadelphia Stars, New Jersey Generals, and Tampa Bay Bandits.

Repole candidly admits attendance is one reason new markets are being sought. Last year, the Battlehawks drew about 30,000 fans per game but the rest averaged five-to-twelve thousand.

The XFL franchises, which include St. Louis, have not been mentioned for any changes. The Battlehawks’ division includes teams from Houston, San Antonio, and Arlington, Texas and the Defenders.

Repole says the league does not expect to expand for 2026 but he sees 10-12 teams within the next five years and 16 within the next decade.

Off to the Races:

(INDYCAR)—A major change in IndyCar and its premier event, the Indianapolis 500—Roger Penske has sold one-third interest in the racing series to FOX Sports for a reported $130 million. The move is described as “a strategic investment and partnership designed to launch new growth for IndyCar.” The deal includes an extension of the broadcast rights that FOX now holds as its first season of broadcasting IndyCar races begins to wind down.

Observers consider the arrangement to be part of Penske’s succession plan. He’s 88 now and still heavily involved in the operations of his sprawling business empire that fields teams in four top-level motor sports series, his trucking company, and a number of car dealerships as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series. The speedway and the series are the only Penske operations that are now partly owned by FOX.

Penske bought the Speedway and the IndyCar series in 2019 and has poured millions of dollars into that ownership. Some voices, however, who admire him as a businessman don’t see the kind of promoter that they believe IndyCar needs. They think Penske Entertainment, the division that manages the racing partners, has taken a major step to be more entertaining and thus expand the open-wheel racing audience.

Although IndyCar does not run any races in Missouri, it has several within driving distances of various areas of our state with races just across the river in Illinois, in southern Iowa, Nashville, and (for a little longer drive) at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas. And, of course, Indianapolis twice in May.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR was on the track in Iowa this weekend with William Byron stretching his fuel just far enough to win with three closes competitors also trying to reach the finish on their available fuel.

Most teams expected to get about 110 laps on the .875 mile track but Byron and his closest competitors got about 130, thanks in part to some caution flags that slowed the field and increased fuel mileage. A dozen cautions that covered 72 of the race’s 350 laps—21 of the last 100–helped drivers squeeze the last drop from their tanks.

It’s Byron’s second win of the year. He also won the season opening Daytona 500.

Chase Briscoe, who started on pole for the fifth time this year and the second race in a row, was about 1.2 seconds back, just ahead of Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Ryan Preece.

Only three races are left in the regular season. Thirteen drivers have locked in positions for the 16 positions for the championship run-off. Three non-winners are in the field on points: Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher. The three closest to them, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, and A. J. Allmendinger are among those far enough below the cutline that they need a win to claim a spot in the championship round.

(Photo credits: Yastrzemski—Facebook; Jordan—Baseball Prospect Journal; Baez—Redbird Rants; Penske—Bob Priddy); Byron–NASCAR)

Sports: MLB teams muddle along as trading deadline nears: and a special win in NASCAR)

Posted on July 29, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals post all-star game drive to the playoff has been an unsteady one with a terrible turn in Colorado, where the worst team in major league baseball this year took two out of three—and wrapped up the series by holding the Redbirds scoreless, 6-0. It’s the first time in 220 games that Denver has shut out an opponent. The win left Denver 26-76.

The Cardinals, thus, helped set a major league record by ending the Rockies record run of no shutouts. The shutout is only the third time St. Louis has been shut out in the 32-year history of the Rockies. It was the second straight series loss since the break and dropped them to just one game over .500 after losing five of their first six games on the road trip and being outscored 20-1 in the first three innings.

The only win in those first six games was the middle game in the Denver series when Michael McGreevy, just up from Memphis picked up the victory. His performance was solid enough that the team decided it’s time for one of its younger pitchers to become a starter. But that meant that a veteran had to go. In this case, it was Erick Fedde, who has been a bust for St. Louis this year. He’s 3-10 with a 5.22 ERA. In his last 17 2/3 innings he gave up 26 earned runs. He’s 33-52 in eight major league seasons. The Braves have decided to pick him up. They’ll give the Cardinals some cash or a player later. Fedde will be a free agent at the end of the season.

We start the week still waiting for the Cardinals to make the blockbuster trade that various sorts experts have been predicting.

(ROYALS)—The Royals have continued to muddle along but they have gone to the free agent market to pick up former Cardinals outfielder Randall Grichuk from the Diamondbacks in exchange for pitcher Andrew Hoffman. Grichuk, who is expected to immediately improve the outfield offensively and defensively, went one-for-four in his first game with the new team. For now, he takes the roster place of rookie outfielder Jac Caglianone, who has gone on the 10-day DL with a strained left hamstring. Caglianone has struggled at the plate in his first season. Grichuk was hitting .240 with 175 AB this year. He’s a lifetime .252 hitter with five teams in a 12-year career.

Also going on the DL is starting pitcher Kris Bubic, our for 15 days with a rotator cuff strain.

The Royals did make a major commitment to the pitching staff, signing Seth Lugo to a two-year, $46 million guaranteed contract extension.

Last night, the Royals lost 10-7 to the Braves. The game is memorable because Royals pitchers tied a club record with fourteen walks. Six of those walks were dealt by Rich Hill, the 45-year old journeyman pitcher making his second start with his record-tying 14^th team. He also gave up four runs and gave up two homers.

Now, the story of a man named Darrell and his record-setting day

(NASCAR)—

This is William Darrell Wallce, who goes by his middle name and more often is known as Bubba. He’s a NASCAR driver who had gone three years, 100 races, since his last victory. When he broke that string this past weekend, he made significant auto racing history.

Bubba Wallace became the first Black driver to win a major race in the 116 year history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He and Wendell Scott are the only black drivers to win a NASCAR race. Scott won one race in 1963. Wallace now has three NASCAR Cup winner’s trophies.

He only the third black driver to compete in one of the major races at the Speedway and the first since George Mack in 2002. The first was Willy T. Ribbs in 1991 and 1993

Wallace took the lead with less than twenty laps to go and held a three second lead over defending race champion Kyle Larson when a crash brought out the caution flag and bunched up the field for a restart. But he got the jump—twice—on Larson on two overtime restarts and took the checkered flag two tenths of a second ahead of Larson.

The win makes him the thirteenth entrant in the 16-driver playoff field with four races to go before that field is set. Three non-winners are in the top ten in points and could be eliminated from the championship run if three other drivers win one of those four races.

Two other drives merit special attention:

Denny Hamlin, who was on a pole-setting run, wrecked on his second qualifying lap and started dead last, 39^th. He and his pit crew got him to fifth for the last restart (that’s his 11 in the picture) and he picked up two more positions third place at the end.

And the only woman racing in NASCAR, Kathryn Legge (she pronounces the first three letters of her last name) drew praise for finishing 17^th, far better than her average finish this year. She was on the leader’s lap on the last restart and held her position during the wild two-lap green-white-checker flag scramble to the end.

(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou puts more points distance between himself and challenger Pato O’Ward with a win at Laguna Seca, near Monterey, California. It’s his eighth win of the year. It has been eighteen years since anybody won eight races on the INDYCAR schedule.

Sebastian Bourdais did it in 2007.

The record for most wins in a season has been set and equaled at 10. A. J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser Senion in 1970 are the only ones to hit that mark.

Now he has eight of those. The record is 10 by A.J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970.

Two wins in the last three races of the year would let Palou tie the record.

(Photo credits: Wallace speaking and winning, restart and Legge—Bob Priddy; Wallace car—Rick Gevers)

Bob Priddy

A journalist's random observations

Category Archives: baseball

Sports: Chiefs Stumble to Third Loss; Mizzou Faces First Elite Challenge; Missouri State Moves to the Big Time, etc.

Sports: And Suddenly, it’s Over for Baseball; Tigers and Chiefs Looking Good

SPORTS: Two FB Wins; MLB season endihg with a whimper; Another Top-Tier BB Recruit, Etc.

Sports: Another tune-up for Mizzou; a Tiger loss; Baseball Teams Drifting Out of Contention

Sports: Chiefs Challenge; Tigers Respond and Recruit; The Twilight of the Baseball Season; Moves on the Track, and off.

Sports: The Good and Sad Tiger Opener; We Explain “The Practice Squad,” and Other Sports Stuff

Sports: Football Time, Ready or Not; Baseball Lingers; a Second Season for one Racing Series and the End Nears for Another

Sports: Ho-Hum Baseball; Chiefs start; Tigers undecided; Sophie Steps Up; and the fast stuff.

Sports: Trades but no immediate gains; Stadiums suit; History on the track

Sports: MLB teams muddle along as trading deadline nears: and a special win in NASCAR)

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